Ingredients
The plantains
- 4ripe plantains
- yellow with black patches
- unpeeled
- or fully black-skinned, for a sweeter result
To finish, optional
- 2 tablespoonsred palm oil
- or butter
- salt, to sprinkle
- 1hot chilli, chopped
- or a pepper sauce
- grated coconut, optional
For the fire
- charcoal
- burned down to embers
- long tongs
To serve
- on its own, from the skin
- with grilled fish or meat
- with a pepper sauce
- roasted groundnuts
Directions
- Wash the outside of the plantains. Leave the skin entirely on. Scoring prevents it. Let it burn down to embers. That takes twenty to thirty minutes. Grill outdoors in open air only. Keep water or sand nearby.
- Keep children and animals away. Do not use petrol to light or revive a fire. Use proper firelighters or a chimney starter. Lay the plantains directly on the grill. Turn them every five minutes.
- Keep turning throughout. Give them twenty to twenty-five minutes. Let it cool for two or three minutes. It is scaldingly hot inside.
- Steam escapes, so keep your face away. It should be soft and deep yellow. Pour red palm oil over it. Sprinkle salt over. Add chopped chilli or pepper sauce. Scatter grated coconut.
- Salt on sweet roasted plantain works well. It is used raw here, poured over hot food.
- Serve it hot, split open in the skin. An oven works if you have no fire. Roast them at two hundred degrees. Give them about thirty minutes.
- Turn them once. A very hot ridged griddle pan chars them. Turn them frequently. It keeps a day refrigerated.
Technique
- Grill it in the skin. The skin protects the flesh from direct flame and traps moisture, so the plantain steams and its sugars concentrate — it chars black and is discarded.
- Score the skin lengthways before grilling. Unscored plantain can split suddenly as steam builds, which is startling rather than dangerous, and scoring also makes it easier to open.
- Let the fire burn down to grey-ashed embers with no flames. Flames burn the skin to ash quickly and deposit soot.
- Turn them every five minutes throughout. Uneven turning gives one burnt side and one raw.
- Look for blackened blistered skin split in places, softness when squeezed with tongs, and a sweet caramel smell. Push a skewer through the skin to check the flesh is soft right through.
- More black on the skin means sweeter and softer flesh; less means firmer and starchier. Both are grilled and the choice is yours — a fully black plantain caramelises heavily and can collapse.
- Do not refrigerate plantains while ripening. Cold blackens the skin without softening the flesh, so a black skin from the fridge tells you nothing about the inside.
- Let it stand two or three minutes and keep your face away when you split it. It is scaldingly hot and steam escapes.
- Charcoal produces carbon monoxide, which has no colour, smell or taste and kills in enclosed spaces. Grill outdoors only, never in a garage, tent or shed, and never bring a used grill inside. Keep water or sand nearby and never use petrol to light or revive a fire.
- Salt on sweet roasted plantain works well and sharpens the sweetness considerably. It surprises people who expect it plain sweet.
- Roasted plantain with roasted groundnuts is a fixed combination sold that way constantly across West and Central Africa — sweet against salty.
- Red palm oil goes on raw, poured over the hot flesh, which keeps its colour and flavour. The atlas holds a full entry for it.
- A very hot ridged griddle pan is the best indoor method; an oven at 200 degrees works at the cost of the smoke, which is a real loss.
Substitutions
- Ripe cooking bananas replace plantain and cook faster.
- Butter or vegetable oil replaces red palm oil, without its colour or character.
- Grated coconut, chopped chilli or a pepper sauce all serve as toppings; plain is equally common.
- A ridged griddle pan or a hot oven replaces charcoal indoors.
- Yam roasted the same way is the other great ember-cooked staple of the same country.
- Half-ripe plantain gives a firmer, less sweet result.
Variations
- Boli in Nigeria is the same roasted plantain, sold with groundnuts or pepper sauce.
- Ñame asado roasts yam in the embers in the same country.
- Alloco in Côte d’Ivoire fries ripe plantain slices rather than roasting them.
- Kelewele in Ghana fries spiced cubes of ripe plantain.
- Roasted plantain split and filled with groundnut paste is sold in some places.
- Plátano maduro frito is the fried version across Latin America.
Frequently asked questions
What is Platano asado?
Platano asado is a street food from Equatorial Guinea: ripe plantain roasted whole on a charcoal grill and eaten from the skin.
How long does Platano asado take to make?
Platano asado takes 5 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Platano asado?
Yes, within limits. Ripe cooking bananas replace plantain and cook faster. Butter or vegetable oil replaces red palm oil, without its colour or character. Grated coconut, chopped chilli or a pepper sauce all serve as toppings; plain is equally common. A ridged griddle pan or a hot oven replaces charcoal indoors. Yam roasted the same way is the other great ember-cooked staple of the same country. Half-ripe plantain gives a firmer, less sweet result.
What is the most important thing to get right in Platano asado?
Keep children and animals away. Do not use petrol to light or revive a fire. Use proper firelighters or a chimney starter. Lay the plantains directly on the grill. Turn them every five minutes.
